Shortbread Jammers

I found 8 x 8 too small. My shortbread was not cooked through even after 15 extra minutes. I trashed most of the first batch (used the edges for crumbs) and made a second batch in a quarter sheet pan. This worked for me.

Rather than spreading each piece of shortbread with jam, I spread jam on the whole slab after cutting but before separating.

I also made a version where I cut the shortbread into triangles and dipped the long edge in melted chocolate and then the crumbs. Pretty and delicious!

I made this recipe last week and it called for a 13x9-inch pan. (Hence, the note about the "long side.") I opened the recipe to make the shortbread jammers again today (they were delicious) and noticed that they changed the pan dimensions to 8x8. It seems they neglected to edit the preparation instructions.

Can't imagine why the food editors would think this recipe works better in an 8 x 8 pan than in a 9 x 13. Like other commenters, I first tried an 8 x 8 with disastrous results. It was not done even after baking for 50 minutes. In a 9 x 13, it baked perfectly in 35.

KJH is right. We recently retested the recipe, and we felt an 8x8 pan worked better. I've updated the rest of the instructions/yield accordingly.

Multiplied ingredients by 1.5 (except for sugar, I used only 1 cup) and really mounded the 1.5 tsp of (sea) salt. Pressed into a 9x13 pan, and the shortbread was perfect at exactly 35 minutes. Used homemade raspberry jam (made with brown sugar instead of white, and juice of half a lime). The recipe made 18 squares, and my two roommates took care of them within 48 hours.

Hi All. If you have recently retested the recipe and updated it it would have been great if you could add some translation for the rest of the world. ie METRIC weights and measures I tell my American husband regularly that the inability to modernise and join the rest of the world in using Metric must have cost the USA billions in the years since you failed to follow President Jimmy Carter’s lead besides ruining millions of recipes with imprecision AND crashing the Mars rocket!!

I have some insight into the "pan size" debate below. We've made this twice in the last week, first in the 8X8 pan. They were delicious, but a little thick. Next time we did it in a 9X9 glass pan and they came out perfect! 9X13 would be too big.

I used the 8x8 pan size and followed the recipe exactly. I’m not sure what I did differently than those who were having trouble, but mine were tender, rich, and delicious after it totally set (it can take awhile). I used a glass pan, cut parchment to fit the bottom, and weighed my flour. When done, I covered the pan with a cookie sheet and flipped it so it popped out. I peeled off the parchment, and sandwiched the shortbread between another cookie sheet to flip it right-side up again.

Made this delicious shortbread with 2 modifications: added a thinnish layer of grated dark chocolate to top of shortbread before baking + homemade blackberry jam, then baked 35 minutes. It was sublime. Took this shortbread on a long hike and it was a huge hit with other hikers. Jam wasn't as runny because it was baked. chocolate melded beautifully with shortbread. Only drawback: huge calorie bomb & extremely rich, but don't know how I would make this w/o that much butter.

I followed the directions exactly and baked the shortbread an extra 5 minutes until the edges were nicely golden, but it competely disintegrated when I turned it out of the pan. Very very soft and obviously far from done. Tragic because the dough tastes delicious. I think this needs to be baked significantly longer than 35 minutes. This is the 2nd time I've made a NYTimes pastry recipe with a very incorrect cooking time (noted not just by me but other commenters).

Made this today - delicious! I used a 9x13 pan as recommended by others and I couldn't be more pleased.

Just made these, and they're delicious. Many others commented to use a 9x13 instead of an 8x8. I multiplied all the ingredients by 1.5 and baked for 35 minutes. Turned out perfectly.

Really yummy! Only made the shortbread base, and served with lemon curd (https://food52.com/recipes/21323-caroline-j-beck-s-6-minute-meyer-lemon-olive-oil-custard). I used a 7x11 pan to make the shortbread thinner, but still had to bake for 35 minutes to get the edges golden brown. Added ~1 tsp lemon zest to the batter, and topped with sea salt after baking to cut some of the sweetness. Next time, I'll lower the sugar to maybe 1/2 cup (or slightly more) and add a bit more salt to the batter.

I had great success by lining the 8 x 8 pan with nonstick foil and spraying it with baking spray. I baked it an extra 3-4 minutes for the golden edges. After cooling, I could just lift the shortbread out thanks to the foil. The shortbread was just moist enough and didn't crumble at all.

I also trimmed each edge by 1/4 inch to use for the crumb. This allowed each piece to have nice looking edges all around. I will definitely be making this again--it was so easy and extremely delicious!

If it's an 8 x 8 pan, how can there be a "long side" from which to cut?